Source Documents in the Legislative History of Section 230
From Bibliotheca Anonoma
This is a supplement/appendix to A Comment on Malwarebytes v. Enigma, whose disclaimer also applies to this.
Since I wrote the article linked above I have decided to include some legislative history of Section 230. The legislative history of a law encompasses the debates in Congress that led to its being passed.
Due to the moderate degree of difficulty involved in finding the legislative history, and the improbability of you being here to read the comments of a tired 17-year-old on it, this will mainly be a convenient collection of source documents regarding the legislative history, including speeches, debates, excerpts from reports, and drafts. Some editorial comments will be made to aid the reader but no criticism or judgment of the matter will be made.
Internet Freedom and Family Empowerment Act (original source of section 230, died in committee)[edit]
[This bill was acknowledged in the Senate. However, since the acknowledgment consists of a reprint of a Newsweek article (obviously not public domain), it will not be reproduced here. Cox and Wyden were also petitioned by an organization not to pass it. This petition will also, for copyright reasons, not be reproduced]
[Congressional Bills 104th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Printing Office] [H.R. 1978 Introduced in House (IH)]
104th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1978
To encourage and protect private sector initiatives that improve user
control over computer information services.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 30, 1995
Mr. Cox of California (for himself and Mr. Wyden) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To encourage and protect private sector initiatives that improve user
control over computer information services.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Internet Freedom and Family Empowerment Act.
SEC. 2. ONLINE FAMILY EMPOWERMENT.
Title II of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``SEC. 230. PROTECTION FOR PRIVATE BLOCKING AND SCREENING OF OFFENSIVE
MATERIAL; FCC CONTENT AND ECONOMIC REGULATION OF COMPUTER
SERVICES PROHIBITED.
``(a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
``(1) The rapidly developing array of Internet and other
interactive computer services available to individual Americans
represent an extraordinary advance in the availability of
educational and informational resources to our citizens.
``(2) These services offer users a great degree of control
over the information that they receive, as well as the
potential for even greater control in the future as technology
develops.
``(3) The Internet and other interactive computer services
offer a forum for a true diversity of political discourse,
unique opportunities for cultural development, and myriad
avenues for intellectual activity.
``(4) The Internet and other interactive computer services
have flourished, to the benefit of all Americans, with a
minimum of government regulation.
``(5) Increasingly Americans are relying on interactive
media for a variety of political, educational, cultural, and
entertainment services.
``(b) Policy.--It is the policy of the United States to--
``(1) promote the continued development of the Internet and
other interactive computer services and other interactive
media;
``(2) preserve the vibrant and competitive free market that
presently exists for the Internet and other interactive
computer services, unfettered by State or Federal regulation;
``(3) encourage the development of technologies which
maximize user control over the information received by
individuals, families, and schools who use the Internet and
other interactive computer services;
``(4) remove disincentives for the development and
utilization of blocking and filtering technologies that empower
parents to restrict their children's access to objectionable or
inappropriate online material; and
``(5) ensure vigorous enforcement of criminal laws to deter
and punish trafficking in obscenity, stalking, and harassment
by means of computer.
``(c) Protection for `Good Samaritan' Blocking and Screening of Offensive Material.--No provider or user of interactive computer services shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by an information content provider. No provider or user of interactive computer services shall be held liable on account of--
``(1) any action voluntarily taken in good faith to
restrict access to material that the provider or user considers
to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent,
harassing, or otherwise objectionable, whether or not such
material is constitutionally protected; or
``(2) any action taken to make available to information
content providers or others the technical means to restrict
access to material described in paragraph (1).
``(d) FCC Regulation of the Internet and Other Interactive Computer Services Prohibited.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed to grant any jurisdiction or authority to the Commission with respect to economic or content regulation of the Internet or other interactive computer services.
``(e) Effect on Other Laws.--
``(1) No effect on criminal law.--Nothing in this section
shall be construed to impair the enforcement of section 223 of
this Act, chapter 71 (relating to obscenity) or 110 (relating
to sexual exploitation of children) of title 18, United States
Code, or any other Federal criminal statute.
``(2) No effect on intellectual property law.--Nothing in
this section shall be construed to limit or expand any law
pertaining to intellectual property.
``(3) In general.--Nothing in this section shall be
construed to prevent any State from enforcing any State law
that is consistent with this section.
``(f) Definitions.--As used in this section:
``(1) Internet.--The term `Internet' means the
international computer network of both Federal and non-Federal
interoperable packet switched data networks.
``(2) Interactive computer service.--The term `interactive
computer service' means any information service that provides
computer access to multiple users via modem to a remote
computer server, including specifically a service that provides
access to the Internet.
``(3) Information content provider.--The term `information
content provider' means any person or entity that is
responsible, in whole or in part, for the creation or
development of information provided by the Internet or any
other interactive computer service, including any person or
entity that creates or develops blocking or screening software
or other techniques to permit user control over offensive
material.
``(4) Information service.--The term `information service'
means the offering of a capability for generating, acquiring,
storing, transforming, processing, retrieving, utilizing, or
making available information via telecommunications, and
includes electronic publishing, but does not include any use of
any such capability for the management, control, or operation
of a telecommunications system or the management of a
telecommunications service..
Exon Considers Cox-Wyden Supplement, not Substitute For, CDA[edit]
[The full text of the letter, while available online, is copyrighted. However, since Senator Exon quoted part of it in a speech to the Senate, I believe the parts he quoted are covered under "fair use" as a report of an actual proceeding on the Senate floor]
Mr. EXON. Mr. President, this letter is by a distinguished lawyer, who has, I guess, as much experience with the prosecution of pornographers as most lawyers in the United States would recognize as a real authority on the subject. The letter of July 10 is addressed to the Honorable Christopher Cox of the House of Representatives and the Honorable Ron Wyden of the House of Representatives. The subject is the Cox-Wyden bill on Internet connectors as consistent with the Exon-Coats Senate decency amendment. And I quote:
Dear Representatives Cox and Wyden: Please excuse the
length of this letter, but much misinformation needs to be
corrected and this is an issue of utmost importance to
America's children and families. You have been lied to. I'd
like to give you my views on the pornographer's propaganda
and offer an explanation of the true meaning of the Exon-
Coats amendment dealing with computer assisted obscenity and
the problem of indecency being made available to minors.
A review of your proposed legislation to protect the
computer information service providers shows that you are
trying to accomplish the same objectives as the Senate
version of the communications decency amendment (``CDA).
Whatever you may have been led to believe about the ``Exon-
Coats amendment is obviously incorrect. The Senate bill
accomplishes the same benefits and protections your
proposed bill seeks to provide. However, I feel your bill,
in giving immunity and a defense without a corresponding
offense, will have the opposite effect to that which you
seek.
Mr. President, although the letter has been printed in the Record, I would like at this time to quote from the last two or three paragraphs:
The communications decency amendment is a good, fair, and
constitutional proposal. You and your colleagues have been
lied to about what it would do and what it provides. I trust
that you seek a proper blend of law and private action and I
trust in your instincts to see through the smoke. Without a
law, the computer nets will continue to be abused by the
purveyors of hard-core obscenity and it will continue to be a
place in which responsible adults should fear to let their
children play. A law that does not prohibit unlawful
materials is no law at all to the pornography syndicates,
their associates, and the addicted customers. An overly
strict law would not be tolerated by the courts, for fear of
an unconstitutional prior restraint.
There is no reasonable doubt that only a carefully worded
and first amendment sensitive statute will survive the legal
challenges of the ACLU, Center for Democracy and Technology,
Electronic Frontier Foundation, and some commercial
pornographic companies will mount. The CDA can withstand the
tests to be applied, no other proposal can make that claim.
This is a serious problem and needs a serious and lawful
solution. The CDA would be a valid extension of Federal
obscenity law to the computer networks and a valid extension
of dial-a-porn protections for children from indecent adult
material.
Our hope is that you sponsor and support the CDA as passed
by the Senate. Your leadership would probably insure its
passage. The country, all us parents and grandparents, all of
our children, our neighbors, even the addicted customers need
your help and that of your fellow Members of the House of
Representatives. Please reconsider and look at the
communications decency amendment in a new light. It is a good
bill. Look for yourself. It won't lie to you like porn
advocates have.
Please let me know if we can be of help in this regard.
Sincerely yours,
Bruce A. Taylor,
President and Chief Counsel for the National Law Center
for Children and Families
Mr. President, since the Exon-Coats measure passed with a 84 to 16 majority, the Senate of the United States sent a very loud and clear signal that something has to be done about obscenity. Something has to be done with regard to material that is being used promiscuously on the Internet today. This is a wonderful new system for the distribution of information. But if we are to sit idly by and listen to some of the opponents, who do not want to do anything about this problem, the American people are being convinced and are now being told by national publications, including Time magazine, who last week had an indepth story with a front-page cover showing a child. This is a carefully crafted piece of legislation. It is obviously necessary, as has become evident to most people who have taken the time to either see this smut--and I use that word very advisedly because it does not begin to describe the bestiality and the sexual perverts that have invaded this system, primarily to make money. The courts have continually held that we have the right to do something in the courts when we have this kind of material in full swing. We had a hearing in the Commerce Committee today, primarily on violence on television. The people are justifiably upset about that. We also talked today about the large amount of sex and suggested sex that is being thrown at our children today. The Exon-Coats proposal with regard to our Internet system is an important step in the right direction. And as more and more people look at it, and as more and more people recognize all of the lies that are being told about this piece of legislation--simply untruths designed and planted in many publications by those who want the pornographers to run at will and be available at will to our children on the Internet. Mr. President, I think this is a step in the right direction. I have personally hand delivered a copy of this letter that I had printed in the Record to the Attorney General of the United States, Janet Reno. I have had a personal conversation with the Vice President of the United States about this today. He was very much interested in this letter. I faxed the letter to him. In addition thereto, I have had delivered today to the White House itself, to the attention of the President, this well-thought-out letter that adequately and honestly describes the well-thought-out Exon-Coats amendment. I only hope that the Members of the House of Representatives will awaken. I think too many of them have been misled and lied to about the communications decency amendment. I hope it becomes law. I thank the Chair and yield the floor.
Schedule of Debate on Cox-Wyden Amendment[edit]
2-3. Cox (CA), Wyden (OR)--Insert a new section 104 protecting from liability those providers and users seeking to clean up the Internet and prohibiting the FCC from imposing content or any regulation of the Internet. (20 minutes)
Cox-Wyden Amendment (IFFEA consolidated with it)[edit]
[The page numbers in this text are of Volume 141 of the Congressional Record]
amendment offered by mr. cox of california
Mr. COX of California. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment numbered 2-3. The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows:
Amendment number 2-3 offered by Mr. Cox of California:'
Page 78, before line 18, insert the following new section
(and redesignate the succeeding sections and conform the
table of contents accordingly):
[Subsection (d) in this draft was not in the final law]
SEC. 104. ONLINE FAMILY EMPOWERMENT.
Title II of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 201
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new
section:
``SEC. PROTECTION FOR PRIVATE BLOCKING AND SCREENING OF
OFFENSIVE MATERIAL; FCC REGULATION OF COMPUTER
SERVICES PROHIBITED.
``(a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
``(1) The rapidly developing array of Internet and other
interactive computer services available to individual
Americans represent an extraordinary advance in the
availability of educational and informational resources to
our citizens.
``(2) These services offer users a great degree of control
over the information that they receive, as well as the
potential for even greater control in the future as
technology develops.
``(3) The Internet and other interactive computer services
offer a forum for a true diversity of political discourse,
unique opportunities for cultural development, and myriad
avenues for intellectual activity.
``(4) The Internet and other interactive computer services
have flourished, to the benefit of all Americans, with a
minimum of government regulation.
``(5) Increasingly Americans are relying on interactive
media for a variety of political,
Page H 8469
educational, cultural, and entertainment services.
``(b) Policy.--It is the policy of the United States to--
``(1) promote the continued development of the Internet and
other interactive computer services and other interactive
media;
``(2) preserve the vibrant and competitive free market that
presently exists for the Internet and other interactive
computer services, unfettered by State or Federal regulation;
``(3) encourage the development of technologies which
maximize user control over the information received by
individuals, families, and schools who use the Internet and
other interactive computer services;
``(4) remove disincentives for the development and
utilization of blocking and filtering technologies that
empower parents to restrict their children's access to
objectionable or inappropriate online material; and
``(5) ensure vigorous enforcement of criminal laws to deter
and punish trafficking in obscenity, stalking, and harassment
by means of computer.
``(c) Protection for `Good Samaritan' Blocking and
Screening of Offensive Material.--No provider or user of
interactive computer services shall be treated as the
publisher or speaker of any information provided by an
information content provider. No provider or user of
interactive computer services shall be held liable on account
of--
``(1) any action voluntarily taken in good faith to
restrict access to material that the provider or user
considers to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy,
excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable,
whether or not such material is constitutionally protected;
or
``(2) any action taken to make available to information
content providers or others the technical means to restrict
access to material described in paragraph (1).
``(d) FCC Regulation of the Internet and Other Interactive
Computer Services Prohibited.--Nothing in this Act shall be
construed to grant any jurisdiction or authority to the
Commission with respect to content or any other regulation of
the Internet or other interactive computer services.
``(e) Effect on Other Laws.--
``(1) No effect on criminal law.--Nothing in this section
shall be construed to impair the enforcement of section 223
of this Act, chapter 71 (relating to obscenity) or 110
(relating to sexual exploitation of children) of title 18,
United States Code, or any other Federal criminal statute.
``(2) No effect on intellectual property law.--Nothing in
this section shall be construed to limit or expand any law
pertaining to intellectual property.
``(3) In general.--Nothing in this section shall be
construed to prevent any State from enforcing any State law
that is consistent with this section.
``(f) Definitions.--As used in this section:
``(1) Internet.--The term `Internet' means the
international computer network of both Federal and non-
Federal interoperable packet switched data networks.
``(2) Interactive computer service.--The term `interactive
computer service' means any information service that provides
computer access to multiple users via modem to a remote
computer server, including specifically a service that
provides access to the Internet.
``(3) Information content provider.--The term `information
content provider' means any person or entity that is
responsible, in whole or in part, for the creation or
development of information provided by the Internet or any
other interactive computer service, including any person or
entity that creates or develops blocking or screening
software or other techniques to permit user control over
offensive material.
``(4) Information service.--The term `information service'
means the offering of a capability for generating, acquiring,
storing, transforming, processing, retrieving, utilizing, or
making available information via telecommunications, and
includes electronic publishing, but does not include any use
of any such capability for the management, control, or
operation of a telecommunications system or the management of
a telecommunications service..
The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from California [Mr. Cox] will be recognized for 10 minutes, and a Member opposed will be recognized for 10 minutes. Who seeks time in opposition?
[Here, nobody asked for opposition, so the Speaker gave the 10 minutes to Wyden to also speak in support of the amendment.]
Mr. COX of California. Mr. Chairman, I wish to begin by thanking my colleague, the gentleman from Oregon [Mr. Wyden], who has worked so hard and so diligently on this effort with all of our colleagues. We are talking about the Internet now, not about telephones, not about television or radios, not about cable TV, not about broadcasting, but in technological terms and historical terms, an absolutely brand-new technology. The Internet is a fascinating place and many of us have recently become acquainted with all that it holds for us in terms of education and political discourse. We want to make sure that everyone in America has an open invitation and feels welcome to participate in the Internet. But as you know, there is some reason for people to be wary because, as a Time Magazine cover story recently highlighted, there is in this vast world of computer information, a literal computer library, some offensive material, some things in the bookstore, if you will, that our children ought not to see. As the parent of two, I want to make sure that my children have access to this future and that I do not have to worry about what they might be running into on line. I would like to keep that out of my house and off of my computer. How should we do this? Some have suggested, Mr. Chairman, that we take the Federal Communications Commission and turn it into the Federal Computer Commission, that we hire even more bureaucrats and more regulators who will attempt, either civilly or criminally, to punish people by catching them in the act of putting something into cyberspace. Frankly, there is just too much going on on the Internet for that to be effective. No matter how big the army of bureaucrats, it is not going to protect my kids because I do not think the Federal Government will get there in time. Certainly, criminal enforcement of our obscenity laws as an adjunct is a useful way of punishing the truly guilty. Mr. Chairman, what we want are results. We want to make sure we do something that actually works. Ironically, the existing legal system provides a massive disincentive for the people who might best help us control the Internet to do so. I will give you two quick examples: A Federal court in New York, in a case involving CompuServe, one of our on-line service providers, held that CompuServe would not be liable in a defamation case because it was not the publisher or editor of the material. It just let everything come onto your computer without, in any way, trying to screen it or control it. But another New York court, the New York Supreme Court, held that Prodigy, CompuServe's competitor, could be held liable in a $200 million defamation case because someone had posted on one of their bulletin boards, a financial bulletin board, some remarks that apparently were untrue about an investment bank, that the investment bank would go out of business and was run by crooks. Prodigy said, ``No, no; just like CompuServe, we did not control or edit that information, nor could we, frankly. We have over 60,000 of these messages each day, we have over 2 million subscribers, and so you cannot proceed with this kind of a case against us. The court said, ``No, no, no, no, you are different; you are different than CompuServe because you are a family-friendly network. You advertise yourself as such. You employ screening and blocking software that keeps obscenity off of your network. You have people who are hired to exercise an emergency delete function to keep that kind of
Page H 8470
material away from your subscribers. You don't permit nudity on your system. You have content guidelines. You, therefore, are going to face higher, stricter liability because you tried to exercise some control over offensive material.
{time} 1015
Mr. Chairman, that is backward. We want to encourage people like Prodigy, like CompuServe, like America Online, like the new Microsoft network, to do everything possible for us, the customer, to help us control, at the portals of our computer, at the front door of our house, what comes in and what our children see. This technology is very quickly becoming available, and in fact every one of us will be able to tailor what we see to our own tastes.
We can go much further, Mr. Chairman, than blocking obscenity or indecency, whatever that means in its loose interpretations. We can keep away from our children things not only prohibited by law, but prohibited by parents. That is where we should be headed, and that is what the gentleman from Oregon [Mr. Wyden] and I are doing.
Mr. Chairman, our amendment will do two basic things: First, it will protect computer Good Samaritans, online service providers, anyone who provides a front end to the Internet, let us say, who takes steps to screen indecency and offensive material for their customers. It will protect them from taking on liability such as occurred in the Prodigy case in New York that they should not face for helping us and for helping us solve this problem. Second, it will establish as the policy of the United States that we do not wish to have content regulation by the Federal Government of what is on the Internet, that we do not wish to have a Federal Computer Commission with an army of bureaucrats regulating the Internet because frankly the Internet has grown up to be what it is without that kind of help from the Government. In this fashion we can encourage what is right now the most energetic technological revolution that any of us has ever witnessed. We can make it better. We can make sure that it operates more quickly to solve our problem of keeping pornography away from our kids, keeping offensive material away from our kids, and I am very excited about it.
There are other ways to address this problem, some of which run head-on into our approach. About those let me simply say that there is a well-known road paved with good intentions. We all know where it leads. The message today should be from this Congress we embrace this new technology, we welcome the opportunity for education and political discourse that it offers for all of us. We want to help it along this time by saying Government is going to get out of the way and let parents and individuals control it rather than Government doing that job for us.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. Chairman, I rise to speak on behalf of the Cox-Wyden amendment. In beginning, I want to thank the gentleman from California [Mr. Cox] for the chance to work with him. I think we all come here because we are most interested in policy issues, and the opportunity I have had to work with the gentleman from California has really been a special pleasure, and I want to thank him for it. I also want to thank the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Dingell], our ranking minority member, for the many courtesies he has shown, along with the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Markey], and, as always, the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Bliley] and the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Fields] have been very helpful and cooperative on this effort.
Mr. Chairman and colleagues, the Internet is the shining star of the information age, and Government censors must not be allowed to spoil its promise. We are all against smut and pornography, and, as the parents of two small computer-literate children, my wife and I have seen our kids find their way into these chat rooms that make their middle-aged parents cringe. So let us all stipulate right at the outset the importance of protecting our kids and going to the issue of the best way to do it.
The gentleman from California [Mr. Cox] and I are here to say that we believe that parents and families are better suited to guard the portals of cyberspace and protect our children than our Government bureaucrats. Parents can get relief now from the smut on the Internet by making a quick trip to the neighborhood computer store where they can purchase reasonably priced software that blocks out the pornography on the Internet. I brought some of this technology to the floor, a couple of the products that are reasonably priced and available, simply to make clear to our colleagues that it is possible for our parents now to child-proof the family computer with these products available in the private sector.
Now what the gentleman from California [Mr. Cox] and I have proposed does stand in sharp contrast to the work of the other body. They seek there to try to put in place the Government rather than the private sector about this task of trying to define indecent communications and protecting our kids. In my view that approach, the approach of the other body, will essentially involve the Federal Government spending vast sums of money trying to define elusive terms that are going to lead to a flood of legal challenges while our kids are unprotected. The fact of the matter is that the Internet operates worldwide, and not even a Federal Internet censorship army would give our Government the power to keep offensive material out of the hands of children who use the new interactive media, and I would say to my colleagues that, if there is this kind of Federal Internet censorship army that somehow the other body seems to favor, it is going to make the Keystone Cops look like crackerjack crime-fighter.
Mr. Chairman, the new media is simply different. We have the opportunity to build a 21st century policy for the Internet employing the technologies and the creativity designed by the private sector.
I hope my colleagues will support the amendment offered by gentleman from California [Mr. Cox] and myself, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. COX of California. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Barton].
(Mr. BARTON of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Chairman, Members of the House, this is a very good amendment. There is no question that we are having an explosion of information on the emerging superhighway. Unfortunately part of that information is of a nature that we do not think would be suitable for our children to see on our PC screens in our homes.
Mr. Chairman, the gentleman from Oregon [Mr. Wyden] and the gentleman from California [Mr. Cox] have worked hard to put together a reasonable way to provide those providers of the information to help them self-regulate themselves without penalty of law. I think it is a much better approach than the approach that has been taken in the Senate by the Exon amendment. I would hope that we would support this version in our bill in the House and then try to get the House-Senate conference to adopt the Cox-Wyden language.
So, Mr. Chairman, it is a good piece of legislation, a good amendment, and I hope we can pass it unanimously in the body.
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Missouri [Ms. Danner] who has also worked hard in this area.
Ms. DANNER. Mr. Chairman, I wish to engage the gentleman from Oregon [Mr. Wyden] in a brief colloquy.
Mr. Chairman, I strongly support the gentleman's efforts, as well as those of the gentleman from California [Mr. Cox], to address the problem of children having untraceable access through on-line computer services to inappropriate and obscene pornographic materials available on the Internet.
Telephone companies must inform us as to whom our long distance calls are made. I believe that if computer on-line services were to include itemized billing, it would be a practical solution which would inform parents as to what materials their children are accessing on the Internet.
It is my hope and understanding that we can work together in pursuing technology based solutions to the problems
Page H 8471 we face in dealing with controlling the transfer of obscene materials in cyberspace. Mr. WYDEN. Mr. Chairman, will the gentlewoman yield? Ms. DANNER. I yield to the gentleman from Oregon. Mr. WYDEN. Mr. Chairman, I thank my colleague for her comments, and we will certainly take this up with some of the private-sector firms that are working in this area. Mr. COX of California. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Washington [Mr. White]. Mr. WHITE. Mr. Chairman, I would like to point out to the House that, as my colleagues know, this is a very important issue for me, not only because of our district, but because I have got four small children at home. I got them from age 3 to 11, and I can tell my colleagues I get E-mails on a regular basis from my 11-year-old, and my 9-year-old spends a lot of time surfing the Internet on America Online. This is an important issue to me. I want to be sure we can protect them from the wrong influences on the Internet. But I have got to tell my colleagues, Mr. Chairman, the last person I want making that decision is the Federal Government. In my district right now there are people developing technology that will allow a parent to sit down and program the Internet to provide just the kind of materials that they want their child to see. That is where this responsibility should be, in the hands of the parent. That is why I was proud to cosponsor this bill, that is what this bill does, and I urge my colleagues to pass it. Mr. WYDEN. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California [Ms. Lofgren]. Ms. LOFGREN. Mr. Chairman, I will bet that there are not very many parts of the country where Senator Exon's amendment has been on the front page of the newspaper practically every day, but that is the case in Silicon Valley. I think that is because so many of us got on the Internet early and really understand the technology, and I surf the Net with my 10-year-old and 13-year-old, and I am also concerned about pornography. In fact, earlier this year I offered a life sentence for the creators of child pornography, but Senator Exon's approach is not the right way. Really it is like saying that the mailman is going to be liable when he delivers a plain brown envelope for what is inside it. It will not work. It is a misunderstanding of the technology. The private sector is out giving parents the tools that they have. I am so excited that there is more coming on. I very much endorse the Cox-Wyden amendment, and I would urge its approval so that we preserve the first amendment and open systems on the Net. Mr. WYDEN. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Goodlatte]. (Mr. GOODLATTE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.) Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Oregon [Mr. Wyden] for yielding this time to me, and I rise in strong support of the Cox-Wyden amendment. This will help to solve a very serious problem as we enter into the Internet age. We have the opportunity for every household in America, every family in America, soon to be able to have access to places like the Library of Congress, to have access to other major libraries of the world, universities, major publishers of information, news sources. There is no way that any of those entities, like Prodigy, can take the responsibility to edit out information that is going to be coming in to them from all manner of sources onto their bulletin board. We are talking about something that is far larger than our daily newspaper. We are talking about something that is going to be thousands of pages of information every day, and to have that imposition imposed on them is wrong. This will cure that problem, and I urge the Members to support the amendment.
{time} 1030
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Markey], the ranking member of the subcommittee. Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I want to congratulate the gentleman from Oregon and the gentleman from California for their amendment. It is a significant improvement over the approach of the Senator from Nebraska, Senator Exon. This deals with the reality that the Internet is international, it is computer-based, it has a completely different history and future than anything that we have known thus far, and I support the language. It deals with the content concerns which the gentlemen from Oregon and California have raised. Mr. Chairman, the only reservation which I would have is that they add in not only content but also any other type of registration. I think in an era of convergence of technologies where telephone and cable may converge with the Internet at some point and some ways it is important for us to ensure that we will have an opportunity down the line to look at those issues, and my hope is that in the conference committee we will be able to sort those out. Mr. WYDEN. Mr. Chairman, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Fields]. Mr. FIELDS of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I just want to take the time to thank him and also the gentleman from California for this fine work. This is a very sensitive area, very complex area, but it is a very important area for the American public, and I just wanted to congratulate him and the gentleman from California on how they worked together in a bipartisan fashion. Mr. WYDEN. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank the gentleman for his kindness. Mr. Chairman, in conclusion, let me say that the reason that this approach rather than the Senate approach is important is our plan allows us to help American families today. Under our approach and the speed at which these technologies are advancing, the marketplace is going to give parents the tools they need while the Federal Communications Commission is out there cranking out rules about proposed rulemaking programs. Their approach is going to set back the effort to help our families. Our approach allows us to help American families today. Mr. COX of California. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I would just like to respond briefly to the important point in this bill that prohibits the FCC from regulating the Internet. Price regulation is at one with usage of the Internet. We want to make sure that the complicated way that the Internet sends a document to your computer, splitting it up into packets, sending it through myriad computers around the world before it reaches your desk is eventually grasped by technology so that we can price it, and we can price ration usage on the Internet so more and more people can use it without overcrowding it. If we regulate the Internet at the FCC, that will freeze or at least slow down technology. It will threaten the future of the Internet. That is why it is so important that we not have a Federal computer commission do that. Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Chairman, Congress has a responsibility to help encourage the private sector to protect our children from being exposed to obscene and indecent material on the Internet. Most parents aren't around all day to monitor what their kids are pulling up on the net, and in fact, parents have a hard time keeping up with their kids' abilities to surf cyberspace. Parents need some help and the Cox-Wyden amendment provides it. The Cox-Wyden amendment is a thoughtful approach to keep smut off the net without government censorship. We have been told it is technologically impossible for interactive service providers to guarantee that no subscriber posts indecent material on their bulletin board services. But that doesn't mean that providers should not be given incentives to police the use of their systems. And software and other measures are available to help screen out this material. Currently, however, there is a tremendous disincentive for online service providers to create family friendly services by detecting and removing objectionable content. These providers face the risk of increased liability where they take reasonable steps to police their systems. A New York judge recently sent the online services the message to stop policing by ruling that Prodigy was subject to a $200 million libel suit simply because it did exercise some control over profanity and indecent material. The Cox-Wyden amendment removes the liability of providers such as Prodigy who currently make a good faith effort to edit the smut
Page H 8472 from their systems. It also encourages the online services industry to develop new technology, such as blocking software, to empower parents to monitor and control the information their kids can access. And, it is important to note that under this amendment existing laws prohibiting the transmission of child pornography and obscenity will continue to be enforced. The Cox-Wyden amendment empowers parents without Federal regulation. It allows parents to make the important decisions with regard to what their children can access, not the government. It doesn't violate free speech or the right of adults to communicate with each other. That's the right approach and I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. The Chairman. All time on this amendment has expired. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from California [Mr. Cox]. The question was taken; and the Chairman announced that the ayes appeared to have it. Mr. COX of California. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.
Vote on Cox-Wyden Amendment[edit]
[See https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/1995631 for party statistics]
recorded vote
The CHAIRMAN. A recorded vote has been demanded. A recorded vote was ordered. The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--ayes 420, noes 4, not voting 10, as follows:
[Roll No. 631]
AYES--420
Abercrombie
Ackerman
Allard
Archer
Armey
Bachus
Baesler
Baker (CA)
Baker (LA)
Baldacci
Ballenger
Barcia
Barr
Barrett (NE)
Barrett (WI)
Bartlett
Barton
Bass
Becerra
Beilenson
Bentsen
Bereuter
Berman
Bevill
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Bishop
Bliley
Blute
Boehlert
Boehner
Bonilla
Bonior
Bono
Borski
Boucher
Brewster
Browder
Brown (CA)
Brown (FL)
Brown (OH)
Brownback
Bryant (TN)
Bryant (TX)
Bunn
Bunning
Burr
Burton
Buyer
Callahan
Calvert
Camp
Canady
Cardin
Castle
Chabot
Chambliss
Chapman
Chenoweth
Christensen
Chrysler
Clay
Clayton
Clement
Clinger
Clyburn
Coble
Coburn
Coleman
Collins (GA)
Collins (IL)
Collins (MI)
Combest
Condit
Conyers
Cooley
Costello
Cox
Coyne
Cramer
Crane
Crapo
Cremeans
Cubin
Cunningham
Danner
Davis
de la Garza
Deal
DeFazio
DeLauro
DeLay
Dellums
Deutsch
Diaz-Balart
Dickey
Dicks
Dingell
Dixon
Doggett
Dooley
Doolittle
Dornan
Doyle
Dreier
Duncan
Dunn
Durbin
Edwards
Ehlers
Ehrlich
Emerson
Engel
English
Ensign
Eshoo
Evans
Everett
Ewing
Farr
Fattah
Fawell
Fazio
Fields (LA)
Fields (TX)
Filner
Flake
Flanagan
Foglietta
Foley
Forbes
Ford
Fowler
Fox
Frank (MA)
Franks (CT)
Franks (NJ)
Frelinghuysen
Frisa
Frost
Funderburk
Furse
Gallegly
Ganske
Gejdenson
Gekas
Gephardt
Geren
Gibbons
Gilchrest
Gillmor
Gilman
Gonzalez
Goodlatte
Goodling
Gordon
Goss
Graham
Green
Greenwood
Gunderson
Gutierrez
Gutknecht
Hall (OH)
Hall (TX)
Hamilton
Hancock
Hansen
Harman
Hastert
Hastings (FL)
Hastings (WA)
Hayes
Hayworth
Hefley
Hefner
Heineman
Herger
Hilleary
Hilliard
Hinchey
Hobson
Hoekstra
Hoke
Holden
Horn
Hostettler
Houghton
Hoyer
Hutchinson
Hyde
Inglis
Istook
Jackson-Lee
Jacobs
Jefferson
Johnson (CT)
Johnson (SD)
Johnson, E. B.
Johnson, Sam
Johnston
Jones
Kanjorski
Kaptur
Kasich
Kelly
Kennedy (MA)
Kennedy (RI)
Kennelly
Kildee
Kim
King
Kingston
Kleczka
Klink
Klug
Knollenberg
Kolbe
LaFalce
LaHood
Lantos
Largent
Latham
LaTourette
Laughlin
Lazio
Leach
Levin
Lewis (CA)
Lewis (GA)
Lewis (KY)
Lightfoot
Lincoln
Linder
Lipinski
Livingston
LoBiondo
Lofgren
Longley
Lowey
Lucas
Luther
Maloney
Manton
Manzullo
Markey
Martinez
Martini
Mascara
Matsui
McCarthy
McCollum
McCrery
McDade
McDermott
McHale
McHugh
McInnis
McIntosh
McKeon
McKinney
McNulty
Meehan
Meek
Menendez
Metcalf
Meyers
Mfume
Mica
Miller (CA)
Miller (FL)
Mineta
Minge
Mink
Molinari
Mollohan
Montgomery
Moorhead
Moran
Morella
Murtha
Myers
Myrick
Nadler
Neal
Neumann
Ney
Norwood
Nussle
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Orton
Owens
Oxley
Packard
Pallone
Parker
Pastor
Paxon
Payne (NJ)
Payne (VA)
Pelosi
Peterson (FL)
Peterson (MN)
Petri
Pickett
Pombo
Pomeroy
Porter
Portman
Poshard
Pryce
Quillen
Quinn
Radanovich
Rahall
Ramstad
Rangel
Reed
Regula
Page H 8479
Richardson
Riggs
Rivers
Roberts
Roemer
Rogers
Rohrabacher
Ros-Lehtinen
Rose
Roth
Roukema
Roybal-Allard
Royce
Rush
Sabo
Salmon
Sanders
Sanford
Sawyer
Saxton
Schaefer
Schiff
Schroeder
Schumer
Scott
Seastrand
Sensenbrenner
Serrano
Shadegg
Shaw
Shays
Shuster
Sisisky
Skaggs
Skeen
Skelton
Slaughter
Smith (MI)
Smith (TX)
Smith (WA)
Solomon
Spence
Spratt
Stark
Stearns
Stenholm
Stockman
Stokes
Studds
Stump
Stupak
Talent
Tanner
Tate
Tauzin
Taylor (MS)
Taylor (NC)
Tejeda
Thomas
Thompson
Thornberry
Thornton
Tiahrt
Torkildsen
Torres
Torricelli
Towns
Traficant
Tucker
Upton
Velazquez
Vento
Visclosky
Volkmer
Vucanovich
Waldholtz
Walker
Walsh
Wamp
Ward
Waters
Watt (NC)
Watts (OK)
Waxman
Weldon (FL)
Weldon (PA)
Weller
White
Whitfield
Wicker
Wilson
Wise
Woolsey
Wyden
Wynn
Yates
Young (FL)
Zeliff
Zimmer
NOES--4
Hunter
Smith (NJ)
Souder
Wolf
NOT VOTING--10
Andrews
Bateman
Moakley
Nethercutt
Ortiz
Reynolds
Scarborough
Thurman
Williams
Young (AK)
{time} 1156
So the amendment was agreed to.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
personal explanation
Mr. NETHERCUTT. Mr. Chairman, I was not recorded on rollcall vote No. 631. The Record should reflect that I would have voted ``aye.
Cox-Wyden Incorporated in Manager's Amendment as Section 231[edit]
[22. Online Family Empowerment]
Page 78, before line 18, insert the following new section
(and redesignate the succeeding sections and conform the
table of contents accordingly):
SEC. 104. ONLINE FAMILY EMPOWERMENT.
Title II of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 201
et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 230 (as added
by section 103 of this Act) the following new section:
[Definition of "information service" has been deleted]
``SEC. 231. PROTECTION FOR PRIVATE BLOCKING AND SCREENING OF
OFFENSIVE MATERIAL; FCC CONTENT AND ECONOMIC
REGULATION OF COMPUTER SERVICES PROHIBITED.
``(a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
``(1) The rapidly developing array of Internet and other
interactive computer services available to individual
Americans represent an extraordinary advance in the
availability of educational and informational resources to
our citizens.
``(2) These services offer users a great degree of control
over the information that they receive, as well as the
potential for even greater control in the future as
technology develops.
``(3) The Internet and other interactive computer services
offer a forum for a true diversity of political discourse,
unique opportunities for cultural development, and myriad
avenues for intellectual activity.
``(4) The Internet and other interactive computer services
have flourished, to the benefit of all Americans, with a
minimum of government regulation.
``(5) Increasingly Americans are relying on interactive
media for a variety of political, educational, cultural, and
entertainment services.
``(b) Policy.--It is the policy of the United States to--
``(1) promote the continued development of the Internet and
other interactive computer services and other interactive
media;
``(2) preserve the vibrant and competitive free market that
presently exists for the Internet and other interactive
computer services, unfettered by State or Federal regulation;
``(3) encourage the development of technologies which
maximize user control over the information received by
individuals, families, and schools who use the Internet and
other interactive computer services;
``(4) remove disincentives for the development and
utilization of blocking and filtering technologies that
empower parents to restrict their children's access to
objectionable or inappropriate online material; and
``(5) ensure vigorous enforcement of criminal laws to deter
and punish trafficking in obscenity, stalking, and harassment
by means of computer.
``(c) Protection for `Good Samaritan' Blocking and
Screening of Offensive Material.--No provider or user of
interactive computer services shall be treated as the
publisher or speaker of any information provided by an
information content provider. No provider or user of
interactive computer services shall be held liable on account
of--
``(1) any action voluntarily taken in good faith to
restrict access to material that the provider or user
considers to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy,
excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable,
whether or not such material is constitutionally protected;
or
``(2) any action taken to make available to information
content providers or others the technical means to restrict
access to material described in paragraph (1).
``(d) FCC Regulation of the Internet and Other Interactive
Computer Services Prohibited.--Nothing in this Act shall be
construed to grant any jurisdiction or authority to the
Commission with respect to content or other regulation of the
Internet or other interactive computer services.
``(e) Effect on Other Laws.--
``(1) No effect on criminal law.--Nothing in this section
shall be construed to impair the enforcement of section 223
of this Act, chapter 71 (relating to obscenity) or 110
(relating to sexual exploitation of children) of title 18,
United States Code, or any other Federal criminal statute.
``(2) No effect on intellectual property law.--Nothing in
this section shall be construed to limit or expand any law
pertaining to intellectual property.
``(3) In general.--Nothing in this section shall be
construed to prevent any State from enforcing any State law
that is consistent with this section.
``(f) Definitions.--As used in this section:
``(1) Internet.--The term `Internet' means the
international computer network of both Federal and non-
Federal interoperable packet switched data networks.
``(2) Interactive computer service.--The term `interactive
computer service' means any information service that provides
computer access to multiple users via modem to a remote
computer server, including specifically a service that
provides access to the Internet.
``(3) Information content provider.--The term `information
content provider' means any person or entity that is
responsible, in whole or in part, for the creation or
development of information provided by the Internet or any
other interactive computer service, including any person or
entity that creates or develops blocking or screening
software or other techniques to permit user control over
offensive material..
House Rejects Senate Version of Bill and Substitutes Its Own[edit]
motion offered by mr. bliley
Mr. BLILEY. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to section 2 of House Resolution 207, I offer a motion. The Clerk read as follows:
Mr. Bliley moves to strike out all after the enacting clause of the Senate bill, S. 652, and insert in lieu thereof the provisions of H.R. 1555 as passed by the House, as follows:
[...]
SEC. 104. ONLINE FAMILY EMPOWERMENT.
Title II of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 201
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new
section:
``SEC. 230. PROTECTION FOR PRIVATE BLOCKING AND SCREENING OF
OFFENSIVE MATERIAL; FCC REGULATION OF COMPUTER
SERVICES PROHIBITED.
``(a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
``(1) The rapidly developing array of Internet and other
interactive computer services available to individual
Americans represent an extraordinary advance in the
availability of educational and informational resources to
our citizens.
``(2) These services offer users a great degree of control
over the information that they receive, as well as the
potential for even greater control in the future as
technology develops.
``(3) The Internet and other interactive computer services
offer a forum for a true diversity of political discourse,
unique opportunities for cultural development, and myriad
avenues for intellectual activity.
``(4) The Internet and other interactive computer services
have flourished, to the benefit of
Page H 9988
all Americans, with a minimum of government regulation.
``(5) Increasingly Americans are relying on interactive
media for a variety of political, educational, cultural, and
entertainment services.
``(b) Policy.--It is the policy of the United States to--
``(1) promote the continued development of the Internet and
other interactive computer services and other interactive
media;
``(2) preserve the vibrant and competitive free market that
presently exists for the Internet and other interactive
computer services, unfettered by State or Federal regulation;
``(3) encourage the development of technologies which
maximize user control over the information received by
individuals, families, and schools who use the Internet and
other interactive computer services;
``(4) remove disincentives for the development and
utilization of blocking and filtering technologies that
empower parents to restrict their children's access to
objectionable or inappropriate online material; and
``(5) ensure vigorous enforcement of criminal laws to deter
and punish trafficking in obscenity, stalking, and harassment
by means of computer.
``(c) Protection for `Good Samaritan' Blocking and
Screening of Offensive Material.--No provider or user of
interactive computer services shall be treated as the
publisher or speaker of any information provided by an
information content provider. No provider or user of
interactive computer services shall be held liable on account
of--
``(1) any action voluntarily taken in good faith to
restrict access to material that the provider or user
considers to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy,
excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable,
whether or not such material is constitutionally protected;
or
``(2) any action taken to make available to information
content providers or others the technical means to restrict
access to material described in paragraph (1).
``(d) FCC Regulation of the Internet and Other Interactive
Computer Services Prohibited.--Nothing in this Act shall be
construed to grant any jurisdiction or authority to the
Commission with respect to content or any other regulation of
the Internet or other interactive computer services.
``(e) Effect on Other Laws.--
``(1) No effect on criminal law.--Nothing in this section
shall be construed to impair the enforcement of section 223
of this Act, chapter 71 (relating to obscenity) or 110
(relating to sexual exploitation of children) of title 18,
United States Code, or any other Federal criminal statute.
``(2) No effect on intellectual property law.--Nothing in
this section shall be construed to limit or expand any law
pertaining to intellectual property.
``(3) In general.--Nothing in this section shall be
construed to prevent any State from enforcing any State law
that is consistent with this section.
``(f) Definitions.--As used in this section:
``(1) Internet.--The term `Internet' means the
international computer network of both Federal and non-
Federal interoperable packet switched data networks.
``(2) Interactive computer service.--The term `interactive
computer service' means any information service that provides
computer access to multiple users via modem to a remote
computer server, including specifically a service that
provides access to the Internet.
``(3) Information content provider.--The term `information
content provider' means any person or entity that is
responsible, in whole or in part, for the creation or
development of information provided by the Internet or any
other interactive computer service, including any person or
entity that creates or develops blocking or screening
software or other techniques to permit user control over
offensive material.
``(4) Information service.--The term `information service'
means the offering of a capability for generating, acquiring,
storing, transforming, processing, retrieving, utilizing, or
making available information via telecommunications, and
includes electronic publishing, but does not include any use
of any such capability for the management, control, or
operation of a telecommunications system or the management of
a telecommunications service..
Senate Urged to Let Cox-Wyden Stand in Final Bill[edit]
Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, today the Senate appointed Members to the House-Senate conference committee on telecommunications reform. The historic nature of this legislation and its effect on the lives of every citizen of this country goes well beyond the issues associated with regulation of telephony, cable rates, and other forms of communications. Mr. President, this legislation has dramatic implications for the first amendment rights of every American. Mr. President, I am referring to the precedent-setting provisions in S. 652 and H.R. 1555 regarding indecency on the Internet. I am here today to urge each Senate conferee to take the first amendment issues of these bills seriously and to consider the ramifications of these provisions not just for speech on the Internet but for all speech in this country. During conference deliberations, I urge Senate conferees to strike the potentially unconstitutional provisions regarding on-line indecency contained in both the Senate and House versions of this legislation. The issue of Government censorship of the Internet is a critical first amendment matter. Guaranteeing the Internet is free of speech restrictions, other than the statutory restrictions on obscenity and pornography on the Internet which already exist, should be of concern to all Americans who want to be able to freely discuss issues of importance to them regardless of whether others might view those statements as offensive or distasteful. Specifically, Mr. President, the Exon-Coats amendment, added to S. 652 on the Senate floor, included provisions which I believe violate the first amendment rights of Internet users and will have a chilling effect on further economic and technological development of this exciting new form of
Page S 15153 telecommunications. When this matter was considered on the Senate floor, I urged my colleagues to reject the Exon-Coats amendment in favor of legislation requiring the Department of Justice to carefully study the applicability of existing obscenity statutes to computer networks, which Senator Leahy and I offered as an alternative. Specifically I have objected to the indecency provisions of S. 652 for the following reasons: First, indecent speech, unlike obscenity, is protected under the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution; second, an outright ban on indecent speech on computer networks is not the least restrictive means of protecting children from exposure to such speech on the Internet. There are a number of existing tools available today to allow parents to protect their children from materials which they find inappropriate; third, a ban on indecent speech to minors on the Internet will unnecessarily require adults to self-censor their communications on the Internet; fourth, since indecency will be defined by community standards, protected speech by adults will be diminished to what might be considered decent in the most conservative community in the United States and to what might be appropriate for very young children; fifth, the on-line indecency provisions will establish different standards for the same material that appears in print and on the computer screen. Works that are completely legal in the bookstore or on the library shelf would be criminal if transmitted over computer networks; sixth, the Supreme Court has ruled that the degree to which content can be regulated depends on the characteristics of the media. The unique nature of interactive media must be considered when determining how best to protect children. S. 652 ignores the degree to which users have control over the materials to which they are exposed as well as the decentralized nature of interactive technology which liken it more to print media than broadcast media. Mr. President, the Senate was not alone in its rush to judgment on the controversial and highly emotional issue of pornography accessed via computer networks. Section 403 of H.R. 1555, known as the Hyde amendment, raises equally serious concerns with respect to the first amendment and appears antithetical to other provisions contained in the House bill. The prohibitions against on-line indecency contained in the Hyde language will have a similar chilling effect on the on-line communications of adults. The Hyde amendment is also inconsistent with the more market oriented and less intrusive provisions of section 104 of H.R. 1555, the On-Line Family Empowerment Act introduced by Congressmen Cox and Wyden, as adopted by the House. Section 104 recognizes that first amendment protections must apply to on-line communications by prohibiting FCC content regulation of the Internet. The Cox-Wyden provisions also promote the use of existing technology to empower parents to protect their children from objectionable materials on the Internet, and encourages on-line service providers to self-police offensive communications over their private services. In addition, the Hyde amendment is incompatible with the pro-first amendment provisions of section 110 of H.R. 1555, which requires a report by the Department of Justice [DOJ] on existing criminal obscenity and child pornography statutes and their applicability to cyber-crime. Section 110 also requires an evaluation of the technical means available to enable parents to exercise control over the information that their children receive on the Internet. Perhaps most significantly, section 110 embraces the application of first amendment speech protections to interactive media. H.R. 1555, while embracing the principles of restraint with respect to new criminal sanctions on protected speech and the promotion of a free-market parental empowerment approach, simultaneously ignores both of those axioms with the Hyde provision. By imposing new criminal sanctions on indecent speech and amending existing criminal statutes, the Hyde amendment rushes to judgment before the DOJ study has even begun. Mr. President, recently the Senate Judiciary Committee held the first ever congressional hearing on the issue of cyberporn. Based on the testimony of the witnesses, which included parents as well as victims of cyberporn, it became clear that the objectionable communications on the Internet are already covered by existing criminal statutes. The concerns raised at the hearing centered upon trafficking of child pornography, the proliferation of obscenity, and the solicitation and victimization of minors via the Internet. However, those offenses are already violations of criminal law. Indeed, recent press accounts indicate that law enforcement officers are already aggressively prosecuting on-line users for violations of criminal law relating to obscenity and child pornography. It is critical that we use law enforcement resources to prosecute criminal activity conducted via the Internet and not be distracted by the issue of indecency which has not been identified as a serious concern by users or parents. It was clear, during our recent Senate hearing, that the witnesses' concerns about the Internet did not relate to indecent speech or the so-called seven dirty words. It is incumbent upon Congress to wait for the results of the study required by H.R. 1555 before embracing overly restrictive, potentially unnecessary, and possibly unconstitutional prohibitions on indecent speech contained in both versions of telecommunications reform legislation. Mr. President, I urge the conference committee to reject the Exon-Coats and Hyde provisions during its deliberations and to maintain the Cox-Wyden amendment adopted overwhelmingly by the House of Representatives. If the United States is to ever fully realize the benefits of interactive telecommunications technology, we cannot allow the heavy hand of Congress to unduly interfere with communications on this medium. Furthermore, Mr. President, I urge Senate conferees to recognize that if the first amendment has any relevancy at all in the 1990's, it must be applied to speech on the Internet. As Members of this body sworn to uphold the Constitution we cannot take a cafeteria style approach to the first amendment, protecting the same speech in some forms of media and not in others. Shifting political views about what types of speech are viewed as distasteful should not be allowed to determine what is or is not an appropriate use of electronic communications. While the current target of our political climate is indecent speech--the so-called seven dirty words--a weakening of first amendment protections could lead to the censorship of other crucial types of speech, including religious expression and political dissent. I believe the censorship of the Internet is a perilous road for the Congress to walk down. It sets a dangerous precedent for first amendment protections and it is unclear where that road will end.
As Reported from Conference Committee[edit]
[The Senate received an identical report, which will for obvious reasons not be duplicated. Since it is now January 1996, page numbers are now those of Volume 142 of the Congressional Record]
The committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the amendments of the House to the bill (S. 652), to provide for a pro-competitive, de-regulatory national policy framework designed to accelerate rapidly private sector deployment of advanced telecommunications and information technologies and services to all Americans by opening all telecommunications markets to competition, and for other purposes, having met, after full and free conference, have agreed to recommend and do recommend to their respective Houses as follows:
That the Senate recede from its disagreement to the amendment of the House to the text of the bill and agree to the same with an amendment as follows:
In lieu of the matter proposed to be inserted by the House amendment, insert the following:
[...]
SEC. 509. ONLINE FAMILY EMPOWERMENT.
Title II of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
[Definition of "access software provider" added; inconsistent state and local laws preempted; communications privacy laws explicitly declared not to be affected. Subsection (c) divided into two paragraphs, but reference in new paragraph (2) to "paragraph (1)", now subparagraph (A), inadvertently left in place]
``SEC. 230. PROTECTION FOR PRIVATE BLOCKING AND SCREENING OF OFFENSIVE
MATERIAL.
``(a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
``(1) The rapidly developing array of Internet and
other interactive computer services available to
individual Americans represent an extraordinary advance
in the availability of educational and informational
resources to our citizens.
``(2) These services offer users a great degree of
control over the information that they receive, as well
as the potential for even greater control in the future
as technology develops.
``(3) The Internet and other interactive computer
services offer a forum for a true diversity of
political discourse, unique opportunities for cultural
development, and myriad avenues for intellectual
activity.
``(4) The Internet and other interactive computer
services have flourished, to the benefit of all
Americans, with a minimum of government regulation.
``(5) Increasingly Americans are relying on
interactive media for a variety of political,
educational, cultural, and entertainment services.
``(b) Policy.--It is the policy of the United States--
``(1) to promote the continued development of the
Internet and other interactive computer services and
other interactive media;
``(2) to preserve the vibrant and competitive free
market that presently exists for the Internet and other
interactive computer services, unfettered by Federal or
State regulation;
``(3) to encourage the development of technologies
which maximize user control over what information is
received by individuals, families, and schools who use
the Internet and other interactive computer services;
``(4) to remove disincentives for the development
and utilization of blocking and filtering technologies
that empower parents to restrict their children's
access to objectionable or inappropriate online
material; and
``(5) to ensure vigorous enforcement of Federal
criminal laws to deter and punish trafficking in
obscenity, stalking, and harassment by means of
computer.
``(c) Protection for `Good Samaritan' Blocking and Screening of Offensive Material.--
``(1) Treatment of publisher or speaker.--No
provider or user of an interactive computer service
shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any
information provided by another information content
provider.
``(2) Civil liability.--No provider or user of an
interactive computer service shall be held liable on
account of--
``(A) any action voluntarily taken in good
faith to restrict access to or availability of
material that the provider or user considers to
be obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy,
excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise
objectionable, whether or not such material is
constitutionally protected; or
``(B) any action taken to enable or make
available to information content providers or
others the technical means to restrict access
to material described in paragraph (1).
``(d) Effect on Other Laws.--
``(1) No effect on criminal law.--Nothing in this
section shall be construed to impair the enforcement of
section 223 of this Act, chapter 71 (relating to
obscenity) or 110 (relating to sexual exploitation of
children) of title 18, United States Code, or any other
Federal criminal statute.
``(2) No effect on intellectual property law.--
Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit or
expand any law pertaining to intellectual property.
``(3) State law.--Nothing in this section shall be
construed to prevent any State from enforcing any State
law that is consistent with this section. No cause of
action may be brought and no liability may be imposed
under any State or local law that is inconsistent with
this section.
``(4) No effect on communications privacy law.--
Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the
application of the Electronic Communications Privacy
Act of 1986 or any of the amendments made by such Act,
or any similar State law.
``(e) Definitions.--As used in this section:
``(1) Internet.--The term `Internet' means the
international computer network of both Federal and non-
Federal interoperable packet switched data networks.
``(2) Interactive computer service.--The term
`interactive computer service' means any information
service, system, or access software provider that
provides or enables computer access by multiple users
to a computer server, including specifically a service
or system that provides access to the Internet and such
systems operated or services offered by libraries or
educational institutions.
``(3) Information content provider.--The term
`information content provider' means any person or
entity that is responsible, in whole or in part, for
the creation or development of information provided
through the Internet or any other interactive computer
service.
``(4) Access software provider.--The term `access
software provider' means a provider of software
(including client or server software), or enabling
tools that do any one or more of the following:
``(A) filter, screen, allow, or disallow
content;
``(B) pick, choose, analyze, or digest
content; or
``(C) transmit, receive, display, forward,
cache, search, subset, organize, reorganize, or
translate content..
[...]
JOINT EXPLANATORY STATEMENT OF THE COMMITTEE OF CONFERENCE
The managers on the part of the House and the Senate at the conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the amendments of the House to the bill S. 652, to provide for a procompetitive, de-regulatory national policy framework designed to accelerate rapidly private sector deployment of advanced telecommunications and information technologies and services to all Americans by opening all telecommunications markets to competition, and for other purposes, submit the following joint statement to the House and the Senate in explanation of the effect of the action agreed upon by the managers and recommended in the accompanying conference report:
The House amendment to the text of the bill struck all of the Senate bill after the enacting clause and inserted a substitute text.
The Senate recedes from its disagreement to the amendment of the House with an amendment that is a substitute for the Senate bill and the House amendment. The differences between the Senate bill, the House amendment, and the substitute agreed to in conference are noted below, except for clerical corrections, conforming changes made necessary by agreements reached by the conferees, and minor drafting and clerical changes.
[...]
section 509--online family empowerment
Senate bill
No provision.
House amendment
Section 104 of the House amendment protects from civil
liability those providers and users of interactive computer
services for actions to restrict or to enable restriction of
access to objectionable online material.
Conference agreement
The conference agreement adopts the House provision with
minor modifications as a new section 230 of the
Communications Act. This section provides ``Good Samaritan
protections from civil liability for providers or users of an
interactive computer service for actions to restrict or to
enable restriction of access to objectionable online
material. One of the specific purposes of this section is to
overrule Stratton-Oakmont v. Prodigy and any other similar
decisions which have treated such providers and users as
publishers or speakers of content that is not their own
because they have restricted access to objectionable
material. The conferees believe that such decisions create
serious obstacles to the important federal policy of
empowering parents to determine the content of communications
their children receive through interactive computer services.
These protections apply to all interactive computer
services, as defined in new subsection 230(e)(2), including
non-subscriber systems such as those operated by many
businesses for employee use. They also apply to all access
software providers, as defined in new section 230(e)(5),
including providers of proxy server software.
The conferees do not intend, however, that these
protections from civil liability apply to so-called
``cancelbotting, in which recipients of a message respond
by deleting the message from the computer systems of others
without the consent of the originator or without having the
right to do so.
As Signed Into Law[edit]
SEC. 509. ONLINE FAMILY EMPOWERMENT.
Title II of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``SEC. 230. <<NOTE: 47 USC 230.>> PROTECTION FOR PRIVATE BLOCKING AND
SCREENING OF OFFENSIVE MATERIAL.
``(a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
Page 110 STAT. 138
``(1) The rapidly developing array of Internet and other
interactive computer services available to individual Americans
represent an extraordinary advance in the availability of
educational and informational resources to our citizens.
``(2) These services offer users a great degree of control
over the information that they receive, as well as the potential
for even greater control in the future as technology develops.
``(3) The Internet and other interactive computer services
offer a forum for a true diversity of political discourse,
unique opportunities for cultural development, and myriad
avenues for intellectual activity.
``(4) The Internet and other interactive computer services
have flourished, to the benefit of all Americans, with a minimum
of government regulation.
``(5) Increasingly Americans are relying on interactive
media for a variety of political, educational, cultural, and
entertainment services.
``(b) Policy.--It is the policy of the United States--
``(1) to promote the continued development of the Internet
and other interactive computer services and other interactive
media;
``(2) to preserve the vibrant and competitive free market
that presently exists for the Internet and other interactive
computer services, unfettered by Federal or State regulation;
``(3) to encourage the development of technologies which
maximize user control over what information is received by
individuals, families, and schools who use the Internet and
other interactive computer services;
``(4) to remove disincentives for the development and
utilization of blocking and filtering technologies that empower
parents to restrict their children's access to objectionable or
inappropriate online material; and
``(5) to ensure vigorous enforcement of Federal criminal
laws to deter and punish trafficking in obscenity, stalking, and
harassment by means of computer.
``(c) Protection for `Good Samaritan' Blocking and Screening of Offensive Material.--
``(1) Treatment of publisher or speaker.--No provider or
user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the
publisher or speaker of any information provided by another
information content provider.
``(2) Civil liability.--No provider or user of an
interactive computer service shall be held liable on account
of--
``(A) any action voluntarily taken in good faith to
restrict access to or availability of material that the
provider or user considers to be obscene, lewd,
lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or
otherwise objectionable, whether or not such material is
constitutionally protected; or
``(B) any action taken to enable or make available
to information content providers or others the technical
means to restrict access to material described in
paragraph (1).
``(d) Effect on Other Laws.--
``(1) No effect on criminal law.--Nothing in this section
shall be construed to impair the enforcement of section 223 of
this Act, chapter 71 (relating to obscenity) or 110 (relating
Page 110 STAT. 139
to sexual exploitation of children) of title 18, United States
Code, or any other Federal criminal statute.
``(2) No effect on intellectual property law.--Nothing in
this section shall be construed to limit or expand any law
pertaining to intellectual property.
``(3) State law.--Nothing in this section shall be construed
to prevent any State from enforcing any State law that is
consistent with this section. No cause of action may be brought
and no liability may be imposed under any State or local law
that is inconsistent with this section.
``(4) No effect on communications privacy law.--Nothing in
this section shall be construed to limit the application of the
Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 or any of the
amendments made by such Act, or any similar State law.
``(e) Definitions.--As used in this section:
``(1) Internet.--The term `Internet' means the international
computer network of both Federal and non-Federal interoperable
packet switched data networks.
``(2) Interactive computer service.--The term `interactive
computer service' means any information service, system, or
access software provider that provides or enables computer
access by multiple users to a computer server, including
specifically a service or system that provides access to the
Internet and such systems operated or services offered by
libraries or educational institutions.
``(3) Information content provider.--The term `information
content provider' means any person or entity that is
responsible, in whole or in part, for the creation or
development of information provided through the Internet or any
other interactive computer service.
``(4) Access software provider.--The term `access software
provider' means a provider of software (including client or
server software), or enabling tools that do any one or more of
the following:
``(A) filter, screen, allow, or disallow content;
``(B) pick, choose, analyze, or digest content; or
``(C) transmit, receive, display, forward, cache,
search, subset, organize, reorganize, or translate
content..
As Currently Printed in US Code[edit]
§230. Protection for private blocking and screening of offensive material
(a) Findings The Congress finds the following:
(1) The rapidly developing array of Internet and other interactive computer services available to individual Americans represent an extraordinary advance in the availability of educational and informational resources to our citizens.
(2) These services offer users a great degree of control over the information that they receive, as well as the potential for even greater control in the future as technology develops.
(3) The Internet and other interactive computer services offer a forum for a true diversity of political discourse, unique opportunities for cultural development, and myriad avenues for intellectual activity.
(4) The Internet and other interactive computer services have flourished, to the benefit of all Americans, with a minimum of government regulation.
(5) Increasingly Americans are relying on interactive media for a variety of political, educational, cultural, and entertainment services.
(b) Policy It is the policy of the United States-
(1) to promote the continued development of the Internet and other interactive computer services and other interactive media;
(2) to preserve the vibrant and competitive free market that presently exists for the Internet and other interactive computer services, unfettered by Federal or State regulation;
(3) to encourage the development of technologies which maximize user control over what information is received by individuals, families, and schools who use the Internet and other interactive computer services;
(4) to remove disincentives for the development and utilization of blocking and filtering technologies that empower parents to restrict their children's access to objectionable or inappropriate online material; and
(5) to ensure vigorous enforcement of Federal criminal laws to deter and punish trafficking in obscenity, stalking, and harassment by means of computer.
(c) Protection for "Good Samaritan" blocking and screening of offensive material
(1) Treatment of publisher or speaker No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.
(2) Civil liability No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be held liable on account of-
(A) any action voluntarily taken in good faith to restrict access to or availability of material that the provider or user considers to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable, whether or not such material is constitutionally protected; or
(B) any action taken to enable or make available to information content providers or others the technical means to restrict access to material described in paragraph (1).[1]
(d) Obligations of interactive computer service A provider of interactive computer service shall, at the time of entering an agreement with a customer for the provision of interactive computer service and in a manner deemed appropriate by the provider, notify such customer that parental control protections (such as computer hardware, software, or filtering services) are commercially available that may assist the customer in limiting access to material that is harmful to minors. Such notice shall identify, or provide the customer with access to information identifying, current providers of such protections.
(e) Effect on other laws
(1) No effect on criminal law Nothing in this section shall be construed to impair the enforcement of section 223 or 231 of this title, chapter 71 (relating to obscenity) or 110 (relating to sexual exploitation of children) of title 18, or any other Federal criminal statute.
(2) No effect on intellectual property law Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit or expand any law pertaining to intellectual property.
(3) State law Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent any State from enforcing any State law that is consistent with this section. No cause of action may be brought and no liability may be imposed under any State or local law that is inconsistent with this section.
(4) No effect on communications privacy law Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the application of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 or any of the amendments made by such Act, or any similar State law.
(5) No effect on sex trafficking law Nothing in this section (other than subsection (c)(2)(A)) shall be construed to impair or limit-
(A) any claim in a civil action brought under section 1595 of title 18, if the conduct underlying the claim constitutes a violation of section 1591 of that title;
(B) any charge in a criminal prosecution brought under State law if the conduct underlying the charge would constitute a violation of section 1591 of title 18; or
(C) any charge in a criminal prosecution brought under State law if the conduct underlying the charge would constitute a violation of section 2421A of title 18, and promotion or facilitation of prostitution is illegal in the jurisdiction where the defendant's promotion or facilitation of prostitution was targeted.
(f) Definitions As used in this section:
(1) Internet The term "Internet" means the international computer network of both Federal and non-Federal interoperable packet switched data networks.
(2) Interactive computer service The term "interactive computer service" means any information service, system, or access software provider that provides or enables computer access by multiple users to a computer server, including specifically a service or system that provides access to the Internet and such systems operated or services offered by libraries or educational institutions.
(3) Information content provider The term "information content provider" means any person or entity that is responsible, in whole or in part, for the creation or development of information provided through the Internet or any other interactive computer service.
(4) Access software provider The term "access software provider" means a provider of software (including client or server software), or enabling tools that do any one or more of the following:
(A) filter, screen, allow, or disallow content;
(B) pick, choose, analyze, or digest content; or
(C) transmit, receive, display, forward, cache, search, subset, organize, reorganize, or translate content.
(June 19, 1934, ch. 652, title II, §230, as added Pub. L. 104–104, title V, §509, Feb. 8, 1996, 110 Stat. 137 ; amended Pub. L. 105–277, div. C, title XIV, §1404(a), Oct. 21, 1998, 112 Stat. 2681–739 ; Pub. L. 115–164, §4(a), Apr. 11, 2018, 132 Stat. 1254 .)
Editorial Notes
References in Text The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, referred to in subsec. (e)(4), is Pub. L. 99–508, Oct. 21, 1986, 100 Stat. 1848 , as amended. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title of 1986 Amendment note set out under section 2510 of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure, and Tables.
Codification Section 509 of Pub. L. 104–104, which directed amendment of title II of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) by adding section 230 at end, was executed by adding the section at end of part I of title II of the Act to reflect the probable intent of Congress and amendments by sections 101(a), (b), and 151(a) of Pub. L. 104–104 designating §§201 to 229 as part I and adding parts II (§251 et seq.) and III (§271 et seq.) to title II of the Act.
Amendments
2018-Subsec. (e)(5). Pub. L. 115–164 added par. (5).
1998-Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 105–277, §1404(a)(3), added subsec. (d). Former subsec. (d) redesignated (e).
Subsec. (d)(1). Pub. L. 105–277, §1404(a)(1), inserted "or 231" after "section 223".
Subsecs. (e), (f). Pub. L. 105–277, §1404(a)(2), redesignated subsecs. (d) and (e) as (e) and (f), respectively.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date of 2018 Amendment Pub. L. 115–164, §4(b), Apr. 11, 2018, 132 Stat. 1254 , provided that: "The amendments made by this section [amending this section] shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act [Apr. 11, 2018], and the amendment made by subsection (a) shall apply regardless of whether the conduct alleged occurred, or is alleged to have occurred, before, on, or after such date of enactment."
Effective Date of 1998 Amendment Amendment by Pub. L. 105–277 effective 30 days after Oct. 21, 1998, see section 1406 of Pub. L. 105–277, set out as a note under section 223 of this title.
Savings Pub. L. 115–164, §7, Apr. 11, 2018, 132 Stat. 1255 , provided that: "Nothing in this Act [see Short Title of 2018 Amendment note set out under section 1 of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure] or the amendments made by this Act shall be construed to limit or preempt any civil action or criminal prosecution under Federal law or State law (including State statutory law and State common law) filed before or after the day before the date of enactment of this Act [Apr. 11, 2018] that was not limited or preempted by section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230), as such section was in effect on the day before the date of enactment of this Act."
Sense of Congress Pub. L. 115–164, §2, Apr. 11, 2018, 132 Stat. 1253 , provided that: "It is the sense of Congress that-
"(1) section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230; commonly known as the 'Communications Decency Act of 1996') was never intended to provide legal protection to websites that unlawfully promote and facilitate prostitution and websites that facilitate traffickers in advertising the sale of unlawful sex acts with sex trafficking victims;
"(2) websites that promote and facilitate prostitution have been reckless in allowing the sale of sex trafficking victims and have done nothing to prevent the trafficking of children and victims of force, fraud, and coercion; and
"(3) clarification of such section is warranted to ensure that such section does not provide such protection to such websites."
Executive Documents
Executive Order No. 13925
Ex. Ord. No. 13925, May 28, 2020, 85 F.R. 34079, which related to moderation of content posted on social media platforms, was revoked by Ex. Ord. No. 14029, §1, May 14, 2021, 86 F.R. 27025.
- ↑ So in original. Probably should be "subparagraph (A)."
